In message , David
Boothroyd writes
3) Routemasters are fundamentally inaccessible for anyone with mobility
problems.

A few (contradictory) observations.

As someone with a slightly unsteady Mum I have to take issue with this.
RMs are inaccessible to anyone in a "wheelchair* but are preferred by
those who are a bit unsteady. In particular, Mum has great difficulty
with modern low floor buses because of the lack of grab rails,
necessitated by the circulating space for wheelchairs and push chairs.
A case of helping one section of the community while buggering things up
for another.

That said, a few months ago, I travelled with a friend in a wheelchair
in London, who was able to take his first ride on a bus in over 30 years
as a result of the presence of a low floor bendy. It worked and it was
delightful to see.

As for cashless operation, it's now much harder for me to encourage
clients to hop on a bus for short journeys in Central London than it
used to be. "Get on a 13 there, the journey to Oxford Street will cost
you £1" is now replaced by "Get on a 13 there but first you have to buy
a ticket for £1 from the machine at the stop". That is relatively
straightforward but puts off casual tourist use which is a pity.

To be honest, I've never thought that paying at stops slows the service
down (relatively few people did so anyway and the flat fare made it
pretty painless). The main cause of delays tends to be "do you go to
X? No? Well where can I get a bus there? But how far along this
road *are* you going?" etc.

I still await (with baited breath) the "tourist routes" on which the RMs
will (apparently) be retained indefinitely. As I said in previous
posting, I thought when I first heard this that it would be the 9, 11
and 15 but events have proved me wrong. So where will they be?

--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk